"Semmiñ Ñaari Boor" - a Film by Jesse Ribot

The movie "Semmiñ Ñaari Boor" (Double Bladed Axe) was filmed in Wolof and French with English, French, Spanish and Portuguese Subtitles, and lasts 49 Minutes. It was co-directed by Pape Faye and Jesse Ribot, based on Research and Script by Jesse Ribot.

You will find information on the research that lead to the production of this movie, along with the making of the film (including pictures), information about the directors, educational materials and additional information on the following page: doublebladedaxe.com/SemminNaariBoor.php.

Watch the film in English on Culture Unplugged

Synopsis: When a villager discovers migrant woodcutters cutting their village forests, she and her husband wake up their neighbour to confront the intruders. But the intruders come armed with forest service permits. In the film, the forest villagers are convinced by the ‘Manage the Forest’ project, funded by Mega Bank, that to get rid of woodcutters they will have to cut the forests themselves—to make charcoal to supply the city of Dakar with cooking fuel. In lieu of migrants running off with the profits from their rich forests, they can have significant income. The villagers decide to try it out. In the first year the work is very hard and the profits are nil. They are selling their charcoal to rich merchants at the forest edge. But the villagers want to sell in the city where they hear the price is high. The project works hard to help them to get permits to sell in the city. The woodcutting villagers return with so much money after selling one truckload that their eyes are opened to the amazing profits they have been missing out on—indeed, profits they feel robbed of. Determined now to sell all their charcoal in the city, they face obstacles thrown in their way at every step by the forest service and the merchants. Frustrated that they are only getting the profit from one in ten truckloads of charcoal, they decide to rise up and organize. They form a federation to protect their interests. [The research for this film is presented in Larson and Ribot 2007; Ribot 2009; Poteete and Ribot. 2011.]

Image Fatou Ndiaye as 'Isatou', Moustapha Gueye as 'Saloum', in Semmiñ Ñaari Boor